Major road closure in Allegheny County leaves residents frustrated - "It's extremely inconvenient."
JEFFERSON HILLS, Pa. (KDKA) - A major road in Jefferson Hills is closing for six months due to work on the Mon/Fayette Expressway Project. Starting Monday, you won't be able to drive along Coal Valley Road until April of next year because crews will be installing steel beams for the new highway.
Jesse Ribich lives on Coal Valley Road, and every day he takes it on his drive to work.
"It's extremely inconvenient," Ribich said.
Now for the second time in more than a year, he's not going to be able to ride it.
"Everybody on this road got to go 20 minutes around either this way or that way," Ribich said.
Coal Valley will be closed for six months, just like last year, as workers continue construction of the turnpike's southern section of the Mon/Fayette Expressway Route 51 to I-376 Project. They'll be erecting steel on the new bridge and reconstructing the roads.
In the meantime, those in the area will have to take a nearly four-mile detour on state routes 885 and 837 through Jefferson Hills and Clairton.
Jefferson Hills Fire Chief Brian Chalfant said that includes his department.
"It'll probably increase our response time by three to five minutes for that lower half down there," Chalfant said.
Chalfant said they're prepared. If they need to respond to the road, dispatch will direct them to the best place to access it. They also have neighboring agencies ready to assist.
"In the event of a structure fire or vehicle accident with entrapment, we have multiple agencies coming that will be closer and be able to access the road from the lower half faster than we can," Chalfant said.
Last time around, they didn't have any major issues, and he hopes it stays that way this time.
"We could reassure you that the resources are there, the units are coming, our personnel are coming, and we will be there as fast as we possibly can," Chalfant said.
As for schools, the West Jefferson Hills School District told KDKA four "bus or van routes will be impacted… adding up to 20 minutes of travel time to each route."
The district said the bus company would notify affected families.